CHAPTER VI.

REIGNS OF JOHN AND OF CHARLES V.

1350 TO 1380.

The States of Languedoc—A young French lady in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—Low dresses—Saying of a mercer—_Damoiselles_—_Garnaches_ and _garde-corps_—_Le Parement des dames_—Social distinctions—High character is worth more than gilded belt—Precious stones—The castles and other dwellings of the middle ages—Splendid furniture—Humble abodes of the poor—Evening assemblies.

Notwithstanding the efforts of legislation, extravagant expenditure on dress continued as great as ever, while the large majority of the French nation was suffering from great poverty. In 1356 the States of Languedoc forbade the use of rich clothes until the release of King John, who was a prisoner of war in England. But noble lords and ladies insulted the nation in its hour of misfortune by their prodigality, and defied the regulations that forbade them to wear gold, silver, or fur on their garments or open hoods, or any other sort of ornamentation.

As for widows, they found themselves unable to oppose the established custom. They therefore conformed to the regulation forbidding them to wear voilettes, crépines, and couvre-chefs. In like manner with nuns, they never appeared in public without a guimpe that entirely concealed the head, ears, chin, and throat. There seems, however, to have been no particular etiquette for the nobility as to mourning, before the reign of Charles V.

We may endeavour to sketch the portrait of a lady as she existed in feudal times, by means of the scanty materials in our possession, for we have no paintings, and very few sculptures of the time, only a few learned writers who supply us with valuable hints.

We know, however, that the gowns of the fourteenth century were of the same shape as those of the thirteenth; we also know that the Frenchwoman of the period began to discover the beauty of a small waist, and endeavoured to compress her own by means of lacing, and, finally, we know that, dating from the later years of the reign of Charles VI. a habit of uncovering the shoulders to an extent that at times became immodest was adopted.

Their “couvre-chefs” of silk were made by a special class of workwomen, called “makers of couvre-chefs.” The couvre-chefs of Rheims were specially renowned.

There were no milliners in Paris either in the thirteenth or the fourteenth centuries. The haberdashers, of whom I have already spoken, sold articles of dress, scents, and elegant finery. In the “Dit d’un Mercier” we find the following lines:—

“J’ai les mignotes ceinturêtes, J’ai beaux ganz à damoiselêtes, J’ai ganz forrez, doubles et sangles, J’ai de bonnes boucles à angles; J’ai chaînêtes de fer bèles, J’ai bonnes cordes à vièles; J’ai les guimpes ensafranées, J’ai aiguilles encharnelées, J’ai escrins à mêtre joiax, J’ai borses de cuir à noiax,”[5] etc.

At mercers’ shops, besides, ladies bought molekin, fine cambric, ruffs for the neck with gold buttons, the tressons or tressoirs that they were fond of twisting in their hair, and gold or pearl embroideries used for head-dresses, or for ornament generally, the silken or velvet gown being even bordered with them sometimes.

Lay figures, called “damoiselles,” were used for fitting on ladies’ dresses and other garments.

A young Frenchwoman in the fourteenth century wore her hair twisted round her head, with a black ribbon; a white dress embroidered in silver, bordered at the throat, shoulders, and elbows, and at the edge of the skirt with a fillet of gold. Small sleeves reaching from elbow to wrist were in red and white check, bordered with a double fillet of gold. Her shoes were black.

Sometimes her hair was confined by a white veil, mingled with pearl-embroidered ribbon; at other times she wore a coronet of beads, and her hair flowed loose over her shoulders. She frequently appeared in a short sleeveless tunic, called “corset fendu.” Frequently, too, her hair was parted simply in two, and the long plaits arranged on the forehead. To this she would add a “fronteau,” that is to say, either a tiara of beads or a circlet of gold. She made “atours” for herself, or pads stuffed in the shape of hearts, clubs, or horns.

A young girl of high birth wore the arms of her family; a married woman wore both her husband’s and her own. Montfaucon, in his “Antiquités de la Couronne de France,” gives us a drawing of an emblazoned gown belonging to a noble lady; and in an ancient Bible we find a picture of a woman on whose hair is a ribbon of gold tissue, and above it a small yellow cap with gold buttons. The upper dress is bordered on the bosom with ermine and gold bands, the skirt is of silver cloth, bearing a lion rampant and three red stars. The under garment, of a dull yellow, is confined by a gold band. The National Library contains the miniature of a French lady of the fifteenth century. She wears a head-dress of silken material, the white upper gown is bordered with fur, the under garment is yellow, and ornamented at the throat with gold embroidery. The shoes are black.

Long narrow white gowns without any ornament were worn by great ladies at home, when there was no occasion for ceremony; and they remained in fashion for a considerable length of time. There were also short sleeveless garments like the “sarreaux,” probably called “garnaches,” and short ones with half sleeves called “garde-corps.”

Peasant women wore blue gowns, beneath which was a woollen petticoat bordered with velvet. Their hats were of straw, and a becoming white guimpe encircled the face.

Hoods or “aumusses” protected the head in bad weather. The chaperon or hood was much like a domino. It was made during the reign of Philippe le Bel in a peak, which fell on the nape of the neck, and was called a “cornette;” there was an opening or “visagière” for the face. As for the aumusse, made either of cloth or velvet, it resembled a pocket, and fell over on one side or other of the neck. On fine days ladies would carry their aumusse on their arm, as is done with a shawl or mantle.

In “Le Parement des Dames,” by Oliver de la Marche, the poet and chronicler of the fifteenth century, he mentions slippers, shoes (of black leather probably), boots, hose, garters, chemises, cottes, stomachers, stay-laces, pinholders, aumônières, portable knives, mirrors, coifs, combs, ribbons, and “templettes,” so-called, because they encircled the temples and followed the edge of the coif with an undulating line. To these we must add the “gorgerette,” gloves of chamois and of dogskin, and the hood, and we shall understand the “under” dress of a noble lady in the earlier half of the fifteenth century. With regard to the “outer” dress, we must remember that the material nearly always bore a large brocaded pattern. The paternoster or rosary put a finishing touch to the costume. These rosaries were either of coral or of gold, and were considered as ornaments taking the place of bracelets.

Notwithstanding legislative prohibitions and social distinctions, the desire of attracting attention led all women to dress alike. From this resulted a confusion of ranks absolutely incompatible with mediæval ideas.

St. Louis forbade certain women to wear mantles, or gowns with turned-down collars, or with trains, or gold belts. He wished that both in Paris and throughout his whole kingdom the distinction of class should be defined and obvious.

Afterwards, in 1420, the Parliament of Paris renewed the same prohibitions with no greater success. It is said that women of high character comforted themselves by saying: “_Bonne renommée vaut mieux que ceinture dorée._”[6] This, whether true or not, has passed into a proverb.

A great number of jewellers existed in Paris in the fourteenth century. Yet real pearls were little known. The Government thought they had provided against every danger by forbidding the sale of coloured glass in the place of real stones. Trade with the Levant initiated us into the science of precious stones, and at first they were regarded with general reverence, supernatural virtues being attributed to them. People imagined that rubies, sapphires, and sardonyx produced certain marvellous effects.

The second period of the Middle Ages was full of artistic instincts, and beautiful castles and dwellings rose up on every side. Meanwhile, home life had become more refined in some classes of the population.

Every man who had acquired wealth, or even a modest competence only, built himself a residence according to his taste, and frequently displayed magnificence far beyond his means. Dressers, cupboards, carved chests, ivory, bronze, enamelled copper, miniature statues, reliquaries, and a quantity of other articles, hitherto unknown, were to be seen in palaces and wealthy houses, and even in humbler abodes.

But among the poor there was no such change. Their homes had remained the same for many centuries, their cottages and little enclosures of land were unaltered. These contained the barest necessaries only. Yet a marked improvement was apparent in furniture and cooking-utensils.

With greater comfort in their homes and with better furniture than in the past, both Frenchmen and Frenchwomen were making an onward progress in their mode of life and their social relations. In the towns as well as in the depth of the country, people met together of an evening to listen to a band of skilful minstrels—a sort of concert. On the eves of feasts the women sat together at their embroidery or the spinning-wheel. Long legends were narrated, to the delight of family circles, and children were made happy by little picture-books drawn expressly for their amusement, while maidens and youths would draw sweet music from their lyres.

These assemblies naturally developed a taste for dress. The poet Eustache Deschamps speaks of the splendour of women’s dress, of their gold and silver chains and belts, and of the little bells with which they adorned their garments.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: Charles VI 1395 to 1422

Charles VII and Louis XI 1422 to 1483]